Tune in Saturday September 9th to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.
Phone #: 844-686-5863
Twitter: @lefsetz
If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
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Friday 8 September 2023
Thursday 7 September 2023
Paul Shaffer-This Week's Podcast
Mr. Showbiz.
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/paul-shaffer-122684617/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/paul-shaffer/id1316200737?i=1000627064374
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7LgnBT0PrGQwQ1qEMjDJcd?si=Hb3WSXe1ST6EmjerO_s4xQ
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/b4d0de9a-b5ad-4389-84ac-36109e81092d/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-paul-shaffer
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https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/episode/paul-shaffer-122684617/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/paul-shaffer/id1316200737?i=1000627064374
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7LgnBT0PrGQwQ1qEMjDJcd?si=Hb3WSXe1ST6EmjerO_s4xQ
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/b4d0de9a-b5ad-4389-84ac-36109e81092d/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-paul-shaffer
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Wednesday 6 September 2023
Such Kindness
https://tinyurl.com/3mv95f7x
"'I want you to know that the way I grew up, I guess I was wired to live small, if that makes any sense. See, I came from people with low expectations. All my life I haven't been able to get past that.'"
I was interested in the book from the beginning, not that I was excited about it before I started it, but about halfway through I got hooked, just couldn't put it down, for many reasons, but first and foremost because it depicts a kind of life many people live that many are unaware of.
Desperate people do desperate things. And you don't know this unless you've been desperate. Oh sure, you might live a life of abundance and know some desperate people, but usually it's those who have less who make bad choices, that they justify somehow, even though from a distance anybody can see what they are doing is wrong, even themselves when they're calm and removed.
Abundance. Andre Dubus III, the author of "Such Kindness," labels these people "abundist." Those who were brought up right, with a safety net, who had expectations, who wanted more. There's a dividing line between those and the rest.
"And also wanting people like this physician's assistant who's clearly an abundist, who reminds me, in fact, of my former brother-in-law Gerard, that this land of ours is full of people who have little to nothing at all. But if someone's raised in abundance, then that person is raised with partial vision."
And you have our country right there.
Forget politics, forget right and left, but do pay attention to income inequality, do pay attention to those who grow up in situations with no guidance, with no support, who don't know the right path because no one ever showed it to them.
Everybody in America should read "Such Kindness," but they won't. Even I was reluctant at first, who wants to read about someone who's lost everything?
I lost everything. But no one believes me, so I won't give a detailed account. But until you're truly broke, you have no idea. You're frozen, you're just waiting for the next bad thing to happen to push you over the edge. You refrain from certain activities for fear of a bad result, ending up even worse than you are today.
Not that I knew anything about all this until it happened. Took me ten years to come back. If I hadn't seen a psychiatrist, who I paid for with a little money I inherited, I'd have never made it back, I wouldn't be here right now.
But you don't believe all this, you don't understand all this, because you're an abundist.
I don't want to blame you, don't want to make you feel bad, you're blind through no fault of your own. Our country is about winners, all the losers are lumped together and ignored, or put down.
But if you read "Such Kindness" you'll understand.
But you won't read it. Because you're looking for something upbeat and entertaining, to take you away from the harsh world we live in.
And that's exactly what I was thinking about when I read this book, how it was completely removed from everything I was seeing on my phone. Everything in the newspaper was separate. What made Andre Dubus III write this book?
It couldn't have been written in a day. Might have even taken years. Dubus wrote a book that most people won't want to read, if they read to begin with. Compare this to our high revenue generating arts, which are based on giving the public what it wants. You don't want to strike out for the wilderness, you don't want to be out there alone searching for the Holy Grail, even though we're all interested if you find it. Well, not everybody. Because too many want it easy, they don't want their construct of life messed with, they don't want to think, to be challenged, to possibly be made to feel worse about themselves.
So Tom...
His mother had him when she was fifteen. But he's gone to college, has enough credits to earn several degrees, but he's never graduated. He makes his money in the construction trade. And he marries an abundist, a Smithie, and things are good, at least on the surface, until he gets caught by an adjustable rate mortgage and then sustains a life-altering injury, falling off a roof.
Tom loses everything. Even worse, he's in constant pain.
Yes, you've got the 2008 crash. And you've got drug addiction. But really you've got people living so far off the grid...that they're in public housing but have no phone, sell their blood, get their food from the public pantry... I know, you're turned off already.
But these people were born behind the eight ball, and then replicate the steps of their forebears without even realizing it.
I had to lay this all out to make you understand what the book is about, but I also know I risk turning you off.
"Such Kindness" is art. It's venturing into the unknown to try and push the envelope, to put a dent in the universe. That's Steve Jobs's term, "a dent in the universe," but somehow that's seen as something physical, something tech, something money-oriented. But what made Steve Jobs different from the rest was his background in the arts. Jobs was a child of the sixties, he loved Bob Dylan, he went to Reed and learned about calligraphy, he went to India in searching of enlightenment. That side of his identity is not as well-detailed. He famously said he was making tools, for you to use, for you to create.
I can't foresee Andre Dubus III paying his bills with "Such Kindness." Maybe his contact was good, he's written successful books in the past, like "House of Sand and Fog," which was made into a successful film with a depressing ending...
As a matter of fact, I didn't really like the ending of "Such Kindness." But that didn't ruin the book for me.
I'm not recommending "Such Kindness" to demonstrate I'm better than you, more of an intellectual, that I even read books. I'm recommending it because I want you to read it. But if you're looking for a recommendation, don't start here.
Don't choose "Such Kindness" for your book club. Because you really don't want to sit around drinking wine talking about losers, you want an upper, not a downer. There's plenty to talk about in "Such Kindness," but most of it goes unsaid in public discourse. But "Such Kindness" is the most accurate portrait of America I've read in years. Screw "Hillbilly Elegy," the rest of the crap written by people with a chip on their shoulder. "Such Kindness" is the real deal, sans pretension, fiction rather than fact, but never forget, fiction is more honest than fact.
You're on your own. I don't want to push you into reading "Such Kindness."
But you should.
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--
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-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
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"'I want you to know that the way I grew up, I guess I was wired to live small, if that makes any sense. See, I came from people with low expectations. All my life I haven't been able to get past that.'"
I was interested in the book from the beginning, not that I was excited about it before I started it, but about halfway through I got hooked, just couldn't put it down, for many reasons, but first and foremost because it depicts a kind of life many people live that many are unaware of.
Desperate people do desperate things. And you don't know this unless you've been desperate. Oh sure, you might live a life of abundance and know some desperate people, but usually it's those who have less who make bad choices, that they justify somehow, even though from a distance anybody can see what they are doing is wrong, even themselves when they're calm and removed.
Abundance. Andre Dubus III, the author of "Such Kindness," labels these people "abundist." Those who were brought up right, with a safety net, who had expectations, who wanted more. There's a dividing line between those and the rest.
"And also wanting people like this physician's assistant who's clearly an abundist, who reminds me, in fact, of my former brother-in-law Gerard, that this land of ours is full of people who have little to nothing at all. But if someone's raised in abundance, then that person is raised with partial vision."
And you have our country right there.
Forget politics, forget right and left, but do pay attention to income inequality, do pay attention to those who grow up in situations with no guidance, with no support, who don't know the right path because no one ever showed it to them.
Everybody in America should read "Such Kindness," but they won't. Even I was reluctant at first, who wants to read about someone who's lost everything?
I lost everything. But no one believes me, so I won't give a detailed account. But until you're truly broke, you have no idea. You're frozen, you're just waiting for the next bad thing to happen to push you over the edge. You refrain from certain activities for fear of a bad result, ending up even worse than you are today.
Not that I knew anything about all this until it happened. Took me ten years to come back. If I hadn't seen a psychiatrist, who I paid for with a little money I inherited, I'd have never made it back, I wouldn't be here right now.
But you don't believe all this, you don't understand all this, because you're an abundist.
I don't want to blame you, don't want to make you feel bad, you're blind through no fault of your own. Our country is about winners, all the losers are lumped together and ignored, or put down.
But if you read "Such Kindness" you'll understand.
But you won't read it. Because you're looking for something upbeat and entertaining, to take you away from the harsh world we live in.
And that's exactly what I was thinking about when I read this book, how it was completely removed from everything I was seeing on my phone. Everything in the newspaper was separate. What made Andre Dubus III write this book?
It couldn't have been written in a day. Might have even taken years. Dubus wrote a book that most people won't want to read, if they read to begin with. Compare this to our high revenue generating arts, which are based on giving the public what it wants. You don't want to strike out for the wilderness, you don't want to be out there alone searching for the Holy Grail, even though we're all interested if you find it. Well, not everybody. Because too many want it easy, they don't want their construct of life messed with, they don't want to think, to be challenged, to possibly be made to feel worse about themselves.
So Tom...
His mother had him when she was fifteen. But he's gone to college, has enough credits to earn several degrees, but he's never graduated. He makes his money in the construction trade. And he marries an abundist, a Smithie, and things are good, at least on the surface, until he gets caught by an adjustable rate mortgage and then sustains a life-altering injury, falling off a roof.
Tom loses everything. Even worse, he's in constant pain.
Yes, you've got the 2008 crash. And you've got drug addiction. But really you've got people living so far off the grid...that they're in public housing but have no phone, sell their blood, get their food from the public pantry... I know, you're turned off already.
But these people were born behind the eight ball, and then replicate the steps of their forebears without even realizing it.
I had to lay this all out to make you understand what the book is about, but I also know I risk turning you off.
"Such Kindness" is art. It's venturing into the unknown to try and push the envelope, to put a dent in the universe. That's Steve Jobs's term, "a dent in the universe," but somehow that's seen as something physical, something tech, something money-oriented. But what made Steve Jobs different from the rest was his background in the arts. Jobs was a child of the sixties, he loved Bob Dylan, he went to Reed and learned about calligraphy, he went to India in searching of enlightenment. That side of his identity is not as well-detailed. He famously said he was making tools, for you to use, for you to create.
I can't foresee Andre Dubus III paying his bills with "Such Kindness." Maybe his contact was good, he's written successful books in the past, like "House of Sand and Fog," which was made into a successful film with a depressing ending...
As a matter of fact, I didn't really like the ending of "Such Kindness." But that didn't ruin the book for me.
I'm not recommending "Such Kindness" to demonstrate I'm better than you, more of an intellectual, that I even read books. I'm recommending it because I want you to read it. But if you're looking for a recommendation, don't start here.
Don't choose "Such Kindness" for your book club. Because you really don't want to sit around drinking wine talking about losers, you want an upper, not a downer. There's plenty to talk about in "Such Kindness," but most of it goes unsaid in public discourse. But "Such Kindness" is the most accurate portrait of America I've read in years. Screw "Hillbilly Elegy," the rest of the crap written by people with a chip on their shoulder. "Such Kindness" is the real deal, sans pretension, fiction rather than fact, but never forget, fiction is more honest than fact.
You're on your own. I don't want to push you into reading "Such Kindness."
But you should.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Tuesday 5 September 2023
Re-Jimmy
In the mid and late-70's, I did a ton of sessions in Chicago with Steve Goodman. Stevie told me this story about Jimmy Buffett.
In '69 or '70, before any of them had recording deals, Jimmy is playing at the Earl of Old Town. After his set he tells Stevie that he has nowhere to stay.
So Steve invites Jimmy to crash on his and his girlfriend Nancy, soon to be his wife's couch. Then in the morning Jimmy asks Steve for a ride to the Greyhound station so he could get to his next gig in Madison.
At the station Jimmy confides he doesn't have the cash for the bus ticket, so Stevie buys it.
Starting in the mid-70's Jimmy covered a Steve Goodman song on most of his first 8 or 10 albums. Including on the Changes.. album that contained "Margarittaville" (his 7th!!).
Back then, songwriters had their own special fraternity.
They knew who was in it.
Hank Neuberger
__________________________________
Here's another story from my experience of Irving Azoff's Front Line Files: In 1983 Irving had the Eagles individually (sans Glenn who went to Elliott Roberts), JD Souther, Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs, Styx, The GoGos, Stevie Nicks (and by extension, Jimmy Iovine), Chicago, Warren Zevon and Jimmy Buffett - apologies to anyone I forgot. As an assistant one of my responsibilities was to to compile the "Artists' Contact List" for every weekend, telling Irving how he could call any of the artists. Remember it was pre-cell phone.
The list had weekend phone numbers for everyone, including hotel numbers and aliases for those on tour. I can't tell you how often Jimmy would tell me to write
"Sailing to Bimini, no number available". Pretty sure he wasn't always sailing to Bimini.
Fair seas and following winds, my old friend. Much love.
Robin Ruse-Rinehart
__________________________________
…gave Gil Friesen the title for his Academy Award winning documentary…"Twenty Feet From Stardom"
Jim Guerinot
__________________________________
I did publicity at Howard Kaufman's HK Management for many decades. It was Jimmy Buffett's management firm. There are so many wonderful memories that I kept thinking about today.
Before I moved to LA in the 70's, I lived in Boston and worked at WEA Records. Steve Goodman was one of their artists. He penned the great song, "Door Number Three," which I loved and saw him perform numerous times.
I was thrilled when Jimmy Buffett recorded it, and one of my favorite memories is when Jimmy played it at the Greek Theatre years later. Jay Stewart and Carol Merrill from "Let's Make A Deal" came up on stage and performed it with Jimmy and the band! It was so much fun!
Backstage after the show, our wonderful photographer for the night, Henry Diltz, was busy getting lots of celebrity shots, but I insisted he stay close by because as soon as Jimmy came backstage, I wanted Henry to get a photo of Jimmy, Jay and Carol. And Henry got a fantastic smiling shot of the three of them to capture the evening.
It hangs proudly in my office where I can enjoy it every day, and whenever Jimmy played the song in concert, they would show the photo on the big screen, to the audience's delight.
I have so many great Jimmy Buffett memories, but that's one of my favorites. Always brings a smile.
Laurie Gorman
__________________________________
I first met Jimmy at Corb Donahue's apartment on Moorpark a few blocks East of Coldwater Canyon. He had just signed with ABC Dunhill and Corb who I believe was the marketing director at the time called me up and said I want you to meet this great new artist we just signed. So I went over to Corb's apartment and when I walked in there was a 12 man life raft blown up in the living room and they were both sitting in it drinking margaritas and smoking weed. That was the first time I met him. I listened to the record and I fell in love with the song "He Went To Paris". RIP
Val Garay
__________________________________
My wife and I live outside Orlando, and she is a longtime Parrothead, and I'm a happy convert. We knew nothing about Latitude Margaritaville in Daytona Beach until we read The New Yorker article. It sounded great, and that Saturday we drove down I-4 to Daytona and took a tour. Loved it! We put our names on a waitlist, 4000 people for the last 1500 lots.
After 17 months, our name came up and we are in contact to live in Margaritaville, figuratively and actually, in about a year!
Fins Up!
Dave Arbiter
Davenport, FL
__________________________________
To my ears he was more Hank Williams than Glenn Frey, but kept a foot in both camps.
There's no way to overstate his popularity in Florida. Patron Saint about sums it up. I saw him at The Orange Bowl in '82. Here's a 70's country rock artist who hadn't had a hit in something like four or five years touring at the height of that first wave of MTV bands (Men At Work, Duran Duran, The Go-Go's) and packing a football stadium - the same stadium The Police played a few months on Synchronicity and Prince a few months after that on Purple Rain.
Vince Welsh
President
Teacher Education Institute, Inc.
Sanford, FL 32771
__________________________________
Completely devastated. He was my musical hero. I discovered him late. Around 1993. Oh sure I was familiar with the hit, but my boss came to me one day and, knowing how much I liked music (I was a radio personality at the time) he lent me his most treasured possession, which was Songs You Know By Heart. One weekend and a beer or two, I was hooked. Had most of the lyrics memorized a week later. I'd sing along in the kitchen as I prepared dinner for my wife and kids. The kids had never heard me sing full songs with such enthusiasm. I was all in. I bought A Pirate Looks at Fifty, a great read. I joined the fan club. Never went to a concert though. A big regret. And as the years wore on, and life beat me up, it was his music that kept me centered. I'll be forever grateful for that.
Keith Michaels
__________________________________
Bob, thanks for sharing your memories of Jimmy Buffett and capturing who he was. I got to open for him in a Florida coffeehouse when he was still playing solo acoustic and was relatively unknown. I was just another college kid banging out Cat Stevens and Joni Mitchell covers on a cheap 12-string and he already had some great originals, but he was as friendly to me as could be. I guess it helped that I was from Miami and could talk some about sailing and scuba diving, but what a nice man he was. We've lost yet another memory maker.
John Paris
__________________________________
As an Alabama boy myself, his music was omnipresent from my grade school years and first trips to our Gulf Coast beaches, and into my early professional gigs of performing myself in Pensacola, Mobile, and Ft. Walton Beach. I'll never forget my parents driving me and my three siblings down to Dauphin Island in '78 and hearing "Cheeseburger In Paradise" in heavy rotation on multiple radio stations.
His music was never really an influence on mine, but I completely understand it and respect the love his fans have for him and the lifestyle he manifested.
DAMON JOHNSON
(Brother Cane / Lynyrd Skynyrd)
__________________________________
Saw him open for someone, I forget who, at the bottom line in nyc in 75? Blew the headliner away, big fan ever since…..fins up!
Bruce Lorenz
__________________________________
I always thought this was funny…. Jimmy was doing a show in his (and my) hometown, Mobile Alabama. Saenger Theater. In the 70s. Someone shouted out a request for him to sing "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw". He responded in a secretive way " Shhhh! I can't do that one! My Mother's here!"
Patti Martin
__________________________________
As always, thanks for the memories and eulogy. I first saw Jimmy in a club in Raleigh in 1974 with 150 people. I was in college at Duke managing the concerts. I thought I was going to see just another bar band, but what bar band plays all original songs? He built a following from the ground up, one of the hardest working artists in the business.
I always thought of his songs as either written while drunk or written while hungover. My favorites are the sad songs, like "He Went to Paris". He may have been the equal of Tom Petty as a writer and no one was his equal as a businessman.
Best regards, Bahnson Stanley
__________________________________
Beautiful write up, Bob. I'm sure your inbox is blowing up, so sorry to add one more. This news hit me particularly hard. I discovered Jimmy's music in 1989 when a good friend I worked with at Metal Blade Records (of all places) gave me the Songs You Know By Heart CD. It was a revelation and I never looked back. Through countless shows and thousands of listening hours, his songs became the soundtrack to our family's life and adventures together. His presence in the world will be missed beyond what words can say. Fins up!
Niels Schroeter
__________________________________
Thank you for the Buffett tribute. His version of "Stars Fell on Alabama" makes me wish he would've recorded an album of standards, a-la Willie Nelson's Stardust.
My all-time favorite quote is found in Buffett's autobiography - "I just followed my instincts and kept my sense of humor." Sail on sailor - you were one of a kind.
Brent Thompson
Birmingham, AL
__________________________________
Jimmy had Little Feat open up some shed shows---
It was just about showtime, yet I could count the amount of people seated in the pavilion.
The thousands of others were elsewhere, milling around the grounds, socializing and whatever.
It was a sold-out show on a beautiful summer evening.
Little Feat walks out...
And so does Jimmy Buffett.
He walks up to the mic...
And in so many words says:
"Hey, all you out there, this is Jimmy Buffett.
Now I want you to get your ass in a seat.
These guys on stage with me are called Little Feat....
They are a great band and I want you all to see them play".
I went to see Little Feat...
But left with ardent admiration for the headliner that night.
Marty Bender Sobolewski
__________________________________
I met Jimmy Buffett in Nantucket in the early 90's. He was having dinner with Dennis Conner the Americas Cup skipper and for whatever reason common sense left me and I went to their table to say hello. Jimmy politely but firmly told me that I was disturbing their meal.
I was beyond embarrassed and apologized a million times. I went and sat at the bar feeling very foolish. A while later someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was Jimmy. He said that I looked so pathetic that he had to come over to let me know that my transgression was forgiven. He hung out for a little while and took pictures with me and my girlfriend. What an absolute legend of a man. RIP Jimmy.
Kevin Bennett
Sales Director West
Cycling Sports Group
__________________________________
I saw Jimmy five times between 1979 and 2017. Football stadiums, baseball parks, and amphitheaters. Still, my favorite show was his gig at Harrah's in Tahoe during a ski trip. In intimate show with just guitar, piano, and percussion. "How many of you showed up because you thought it said 'Buffet' on the marquee?" he asked the audience. A consummate performer. Alway self deprecating. RIP.
Steven Leventhal
__________________________________
That's a great remembrance. I can't help but think of one of his lesser "classic" albums. You didn't mention it. One Particular Harbor. One stanza from the title track stands out to me:
"Most mysterious calling harbour
So far but yet so near
I can see the day when my hair's full gray
And I finally disappear"
Fair seas, Jimmy. Someday we'll all
raft up at that one particular harbor, So far but so near…
Mike Murphy
__________________________________
So it's like this. Buffet was a go-jillionaire because he could make melodies every bit as good as McCartney. My folks played Buffet, Jennings, and Nelson at all their smoke filled, dance hall, poker parties they held while I might have been trying to sleep, just down the hall, in our 3 bed, 2 bath LA suburb house in the 70s.
I never met the guy. But his art was a fu-king enormous part of my pre-10-s, through my mid 20s.
Long after my own introduction to Buffet at home, a friend's parents bought a sailboat, and berthed it in Marina Del Rey. We were just out of high school, and we would go sail outside of the marina, listening to Buffet, and Everclear (Santa Monica). I haven't a whole lot of sympathy for billionaires dying before 80, as my dad, as well as yours, died at 70. But I will always appreciate Buffet's art, as much I do the art of Van Gough and Monet, et. al., and the impact it had on my life.
So I hope Jimmy rests in peace.
Chris Flesher
__________________________________
Hi Bob,
Since we were in Jackson, MS and since at least one of the jocks at WZZQ-FM knew Jimmy and Fingers Taylor from their time at the U of Southern Mississippi, we played almost every song A White Sport Coat and Pink Crustacean and Living and Dying in 3/4 Time from the day they came out. (Fingers Taylor had additional fame from his work with Larry Raspberry and the Highsteppers out of Memphis; the ill-fated High Steppin' and Fancy Dancin' album was in heavy rotation.)
The Great Filling Station Holdup and Peanut Butter Conspiracy (alleged to have been about an event at a convenience store in Hattiesburg, MS where USM resides) were listener favorites. He Went to Paris and Death of an Unpopular Poet were also requested with regularity. In fact, checking the track listing, I know we played every song on Sport Coat except for Why Don't We Get Drunk. And we would have played that except that was at a time when the FCC might actually do something to the license holder if a station played a song with the famous lyric.
We were already playing Willis Alan Ramsey's Ballad of Spider John but we were happy to get Jimmy's cover version on Living and Dying in 3/4 Time. The Wino and I Know and Pencil Thin Mustache were in regular rotation for a long time.
We played several cuts from each of the next several albums and when he blew up with Margaritaville and Cheeseburger, we played them so much I got tired of 'em. Nothing wrong with the songs but after the first few hundred listens….
I remember your podcast with Jimmy and Mac. That was a good one.
RIP Jimmy Buffett!
Best, Bill Fitzhugh
__________________________________
Thanks for your wonderful tribute to Jimmy Buffett. My very first concert was seeing Jimmy in Snowmass in August of '77 when I was 10 years old. I was there with my Dad and brother and will never forget it. I only knew 'Margaritaville' but that was enough. Jimmy and his band showed me the wonder of seeing music played live by talented people who were having fun. And even at 10 I could see that Jimmy was having a ball! I miss those days and have been seeking the joy we had that night ever since. I keep seeing shows to catch that magic. Besides family, what's better?
Take care and fins up!
Charlie Howard
__________________________________
Jimmy's death has hit me particularly hard, even though I was never a huge fan of Margaritaville and all that jazz. But I knew Jimmy was a good soul and all the stories spilling out now confirm it.
My wife's uncle was a long time restauranteur on Nantucket. He owned the Club Car for 40 years along with the Ropewalk, which is where he met Jimmy Buffett after he crashed his seaplane in the harbor outside the restaurant. Uncle Joey swam out and saved his life. Joe, like Jimmy, did not crave attention for his good deeds. And while I think the story has been told, the details my family knows were quite a bit more harrowing than is generally known. but the greatest part of the story is it was merely the introduction of a lifelong friendship.
Our uncle was a tremendous flyfisherman, and he and Jimmy fished often, traveling, and having adventures between—or while—Jimmy toured. (We have a shoebox full of Joey's backstage passes to all these amazing concerts, his name written in sharpie.) But most of the stories we heard over the years were their fish tales as members of the 'flyfisherman of the apocalypse, a very selec (several famous) bit unassuming group of close friends.
Uncle Joey passed a few years ago, and while I never met Jimmy Buffett, I've heard from people close to him that Jimmy considered Joey his best friend. I know that they are bonefishing together right now up in Heaven.
Rick Pascocello
__________________________________
Hi Bob,
Love your Jimmy piece as it captures the essence of the genius.
I was blessed to hang with Jimmy for many years in Jamaica and in the US.
I met Jim backstage at the Greek theater and gave him a song that I had written for him. I never heard back, but when I saw him about a year later on Jamaica, he remembered and said you're the guy who wrote that song I'm on Jamaica Time!!
He told me that he used to be an altar boy, so he and I together wrote a song called Altered Boy, which is what he had become all those years later!! It's on his Far Side of the World album.
He asked me to help him launch his Radio Margaritaville on Sirius. So I toured with him for a whole year, experiencing the magic every night, and interviewing him on the radio between sets.
I was supposed to be on his plane with him in Jamaica when the police shot it down, but I had to return to the US the day before!!
We could've lost Jimmy and Bono, but heaven was not ready for those two troublemakers yet !!
When I asked Jimmy about it, he said "Listen I used to ship weed, so this is just my karma coming back to get me!" Instead of being bitter, he wrote the song Jamaican Mistaka, and encouraged all of his fans to come to Jamaica to his five Margaritavilles !!
And the plane with all the bullet holes is at Margaritaville at Universal in Orlando.
He was one of the worlds greatest performers, a wicked writer, humanitarian and f*cking amazing human being. All of us in his orbit were truly blessed. We should all be lucky enough in our lifetime to live even one day in the mythical pleasure vortex that he created. He helped us to see the world a little more clearly.
Native Wayne Jobson
Los Angeles
__________________________________
Hey Bob,
I don't think I have ever written in (which is hard to believe as I have been reading your work for decades) but I thought this one was worth it:
I've been reading the many tributes and stories about Jimmy Buffett — from Brandi Carlile to Paul McCartney — and while he was certainly a friend to many musicians, his generosity extended to strangers - like me - as well. My Jimmy Buffett story is all about our mutual love of two different places: New Orleans, with its rich, funky music and Sag Harbor, NY and its deep nautical history and great sailing vibes.
It starts for me at Tulane where I was a student, working as the Promotion Director for the college radio station WTUL. The History degree I received was nothing compared to the music knowledge I gained in New Orleans, including an introduction to the music of the legendary Neville Brothers. Eight years after graduating I was working as a 27-year-old New York-based local radio promotions guy for A&M Records (RIP Mr. Moss.) where our NY based A&R guy Patrick Clifford signed the Neville Brothers and Aaron Neville to the label. Patrick hired Daniel Lanois to produce the "YELLOW MOON" record and they create a CLASSIC album!
I was determined to help make sure the world heard it and I promised Patrick I would not stop until it did!
https://open.spotify.com/album/5mk6XIaqIFbESIcfqh8GEF?si=z1W1jMaqSqi-la8iT7LETA
Our radio promotion team got the record added on a bunch of rock leaning stations in the country, but the biggest one at the time was WNEW in New York City. The music director: Lorraine Caruso recognized it was a great record but encouraged me to create something special to get the station excited about playing the record early (as normally big NY stations waited until records charted in the national top 10 or 20.)
I pitched the idea of an album release party, but what is special about another album release party. I was at a loss but determined to help break this record. That weekend as we starting to set up the album release for the beginning of 1989, I was spending the weekend at my mom's little house in Sag Harbor, NY. I was sitting outside the house on the hood of my car reading the paper and I hear two guys talking on my quiet street.
I look up.. wait..what…it's Jimmy Buffett and the CBS TV 60-Minutes broadcaster Ed Bradley walking past my mom's house!
At first, I was confused as Jimmy "Margaritaville" Buffett was a Key West kind of guy. What's he doing in Sag Harbor where I grew up? I jump off the car, newspaper in hand and introduce myself to them.
Jimmy tells me he just rented our friend Dave's tiny home a few doors down from ours and right next to our local radio station WLNG… "Home of the Golden Oldies."
I tell Ed Bradley that I had seen him jump up for the Neville Brothers final song at the New Orleans Jazz Fest (which I have not missed one of them in the last 42 years) a few months back. He sang the classic R&B song "60 Minute Man" with the band. We talked about his love for the band and I mentioned the upcoming "Yellow Moon" record release and our promotional campaign. I shared my conundrum about getting the needed radio airplay to break the record and spread it out from the world's biggest radio market; New York City.
Without missing a beat, Jimmy says, "Ed you should host the Neville's listening party at the Paley Center and I'll come if I'm not on tour." Ed looks at Jimmy and then back to me and says back "that's a great idea Jimmy, let's do it." I take out a pen from my dad's glove box and write down Ed's assistants' number on the newspaper and off they go exploring my neighborhood and his future residence.
Not believing my luck that I just happened to be sitting outside my house when these legends in music and broadcasting walked by, I called and spoke to Ed's assistant on Monday and she gave me a few dates that Ed and the beautiful Paley Center Theatre were available to host.
Lorraine loved this idea and we created the event a WNEW fan and staff exclusive.
Jimmy unfortunately was on tour that spring, where he spent much of his life, spreading joy but the event came off brilliantly with Ed Bradley as the master of ceremonies! WNEW added the Neville's record which made many radio stations all over America follow suit.
I am SO proud that A&M Records signed a band like The Neville Brothers and even prouder that we got them a gold record for "Yellow Moon, which is still viewed as a classic!
Twenty years later in 2008, I ran into Jimmy backstage in the Newport Folk Fest artist catering area and we sat and talked about our shared love of Sag Harbor, sailing and for the Neville Brothers and New Orleans music culture. Jimmy said he had sailed into Sag Harbor and loved the historic little Whaling village vibe. He, like me could never get it out of his head (I have visited there every summer of my life) and he decided to spend his summers there.
He later bought a much larger home on the water which he passed away in on Friday.
His last in person radio interview was on that local neighborhood radio station WLNG where strangely enough I got my first gig at 8 years old, putting away albums and doing voice overs for a local radio bank commercial.
I was paid in free records and I radio never out of my head. I guess I should not be so surprised that radio was the path that got into the music business a decade plus later.
During Jimmy's last radio interview this summer he debuted his newest song "My Gummy Just Kicked In."
The song title was inspired by a dinner conversation he had at his Sag Harbor home with Paul McCartney and his wife Nancy.
Below is a some of that interview from July 9th.
https://www.facebook.com/WLNGRadio/videos/3553304388262413/
Jimmy, thanks for finding Sag Harbor and walking past my house with the 60 Minute Man that crisp fall Long Island Day in1988 and helping the Neville's "Yellow Moon" record get the proper launch it deserved!
Jonathan McHugh
__________________________________
Wonderful piece on Jimmy Buffett, Bob. The man went through life at full speed, funny as hell. I do not think I knew a more competent or curious person….he could pilot a seaplane, a jet, sail a yacht by the stars, surf, write, sing, point out the stars in the sky, learn new languages in his 60s and 70s. Who does that? Few people could pack action in more in a single day.
He put nothing but joy out there and the last thing he wanted was for people to feel down and sad for him. That's why no one really knew. He left happy and at peace. Jimmy packed in a lot of lifetimes into his 76 years. RIP, pal.
Loved your personal take..
All the best, Tom Freston
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In '69 or '70, before any of them had recording deals, Jimmy is playing at the Earl of Old Town. After his set he tells Stevie that he has nowhere to stay.
So Steve invites Jimmy to crash on his and his girlfriend Nancy, soon to be his wife's couch. Then in the morning Jimmy asks Steve for a ride to the Greyhound station so he could get to his next gig in Madison.
At the station Jimmy confides he doesn't have the cash for the bus ticket, so Stevie buys it.
Starting in the mid-70's Jimmy covered a Steve Goodman song on most of his first 8 or 10 albums. Including on the Changes.. album that contained "Margarittaville" (his 7th!!).
Back then, songwriters had their own special fraternity.
They knew who was in it.
Hank Neuberger
__________________________________
Here's another story from my experience of Irving Azoff's Front Line Files: In 1983 Irving had the Eagles individually (sans Glenn who went to Elliott Roberts), JD Souther, Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs, Styx, The GoGos, Stevie Nicks (and by extension, Jimmy Iovine), Chicago, Warren Zevon and Jimmy Buffett - apologies to anyone I forgot. As an assistant one of my responsibilities was to to compile the "Artists' Contact List" for every weekend, telling Irving how he could call any of the artists. Remember it was pre-cell phone.
The list had weekend phone numbers for everyone, including hotel numbers and aliases for those on tour. I can't tell you how often Jimmy would tell me to write
"Sailing to Bimini, no number available". Pretty sure he wasn't always sailing to Bimini.
Fair seas and following winds, my old friend. Much love.
Robin Ruse-Rinehart
__________________________________
…gave Gil Friesen the title for his Academy Award winning documentary…"Twenty Feet From Stardom"
Jim Guerinot
__________________________________
I did publicity at Howard Kaufman's HK Management for many decades. It was Jimmy Buffett's management firm. There are so many wonderful memories that I kept thinking about today.
Before I moved to LA in the 70's, I lived in Boston and worked at WEA Records. Steve Goodman was one of their artists. He penned the great song, "Door Number Three," which I loved and saw him perform numerous times.
I was thrilled when Jimmy Buffett recorded it, and one of my favorite memories is when Jimmy played it at the Greek Theatre years later. Jay Stewart and Carol Merrill from "Let's Make A Deal" came up on stage and performed it with Jimmy and the band! It was so much fun!
Backstage after the show, our wonderful photographer for the night, Henry Diltz, was busy getting lots of celebrity shots, but I insisted he stay close by because as soon as Jimmy came backstage, I wanted Henry to get a photo of Jimmy, Jay and Carol. And Henry got a fantastic smiling shot of the three of them to capture the evening.
It hangs proudly in my office where I can enjoy it every day, and whenever Jimmy played the song in concert, they would show the photo on the big screen, to the audience's delight.
I have so many great Jimmy Buffett memories, but that's one of my favorites. Always brings a smile.
Laurie Gorman
__________________________________
I first met Jimmy at Corb Donahue's apartment on Moorpark a few blocks East of Coldwater Canyon. He had just signed with ABC Dunhill and Corb who I believe was the marketing director at the time called me up and said I want you to meet this great new artist we just signed. So I went over to Corb's apartment and when I walked in there was a 12 man life raft blown up in the living room and they were both sitting in it drinking margaritas and smoking weed. That was the first time I met him. I listened to the record and I fell in love with the song "He Went To Paris". RIP
Val Garay
__________________________________
My wife and I live outside Orlando, and she is a longtime Parrothead, and I'm a happy convert. We knew nothing about Latitude Margaritaville in Daytona Beach until we read The New Yorker article. It sounded great, and that Saturday we drove down I-4 to Daytona and took a tour. Loved it! We put our names on a waitlist, 4000 people for the last 1500 lots.
After 17 months, our name came up and we are in contact to live in Margaritaville, figuratively and actually, in about a year!
Fins Up!
Dave Arbiter
Davenport, FL
__________________________________
To my ears he was more Hank Williams than Glenn Frey, but kept a foot in both camps.
There's no way to overstate his popularity in Florida. Patron Saint about sums it up. I saw him at The Orange Bowl in '82. Here's a 70's country rock artist who hadn't had a hit in something like four or five years touring at the height of that first wave of MTV bands (Men At Work, Duran Duran, The Go-Go's) and packing a football stadium - the same stadium The Police played a few months on Synchronicity and Prince a few months after that on Purple Rain.
Vince Welsh
President
Teacher Education Institute, Inc.
Sanford, FL 32771
__________________________________
Completely devastated. He was my musical hero. I discovered him late. Around 1993. Oh sure I was familiar with the hit, but my boss came to me one day and, knowing how much I liked music (I was a radio personality at the time) he lent me his most treasured possession, which was Songs You Know By Heart. One weekend and a beer or two, I was hooked. Had most of the lyrics memorized a week later. I'd sing along in the kitchen as I prepared dinner for my wife and kids. The kids had never heard me sing full songs with such enthusiasm. I was all in. I bought A Pirate Looks at Fifty, a great read. I joined the fan club. Never went to a concert though. A big regret. And as the years wore on, and life beat me up, it was his music that kept me centered. I'll be forever grateful for that.
Keith Michaels
__________________________________
Bob, thanks for sharing your memories of Jimmy Buffett and capturing who he was. I got to open for him in a Florida coffeehouse when he was still playing solo acoustic and was relatively unknown. I was just another college kid banging out Cat Stevens and Joni Mitchell covers on a cheap 12-string and he already had some great originals, but he was as friendly to me as could be. I guess it helped that I was from Miami and could talk some about sailing and scuba diving, but what a nice man he was. We've lost yet another memory maker.
John Paris
__________________________________
As an Alabama boy myself, his music was omnipresent from my grade school years and first trips to our Gulf Coast beaches, and into my early professional gigs of performing myself in Pensacola, Mobile, and Ft. Walton Beach. I'll never forget my parents driving me and my three siblings down to Dauphin Island in '78 and hearing "Cheeseburger In Paradise" in heavy rotation on multiple radio stations.
His music was never really an influence on mine, but I completely understand it and respect the love his fans have for him and the lifestyle he manifested.
DAMON JOHNSON
(Brother Cane / Lynyrd Skynyrd)
__________________________________
Saw him open for someone, I forget who, at the bottom line in nyc in 75? Blew the headliner away, big fan ever since…..fins up!
Bruce Lorenz
__________________________________
I always thought this was funny…. Jimmy was doing a show in his (and my) hometown, Mobile Alabama. Saenger Theater. In the 70s. Someone shouted out a request for him to sing "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw". He responded in a secretive way " Shhhh! I can't do that one! My Mother's here!"
Patti Martin
__________________________________
As always, thanks for the memories and eulogy. I first saw Jimmy in a club in Raleigh in 1974 with 150 people. I was in college at Duke managing the concerts. I thought I was going to see just another bar band, but what bar band plays all original songs? He built a following from the ground up, one of the hardest working artists in the business.
I always thought of his songs as either written while drunk or written while hungover. My favorites are the sad songs, like "He Went to Paris". He may have been the equal of Tom Petty as a writer and no one was his equal as a businessman.
Best regards, Bahnson Stanley
__________________________________
Beautiful write up, Bob. I'm sure your inbox is blowing up, so sorry to add one more. This news hit me particularly hard. I discovered Jimmy's music in 1989 when a good friend I worked with at Metal Blade Records (of all places) gave me the Songs You Know By Heart CD. It was a revelation and I never looked back. Through countless shows and thousands of listening hours, his songs became the soundtrack to our family's life and adventures together. His presence in the world will be missed beyond what words can say. Fins up!
Niels Schroeter
__________________________________
Thank you for the Buffett tribute. His version of "Stars Fell on Alabama" makes me wish he would've recorded an album of standards, a-la Willie Nelson's Stardust.
My all-time favorite quote is found in Buffett's autobiography - "I just followed my instincts and kept my sense of humor." Sail on sailor - you were one of a kind.
Brent Thompson
Birmingham, AL
__________________________________
Jimmy had Little Feat open up some shed shows---
It was just about showtime, yet I could count the amount of people seated in the pavilion.
The thousands of others were elsewhere, milling around the grounds, socializing and whatever.
It was a sold-out show on a beautiful summer evening.
Little Feat walks out...
And so does Jimmy Buffett.
He walks up to the mic...
And in so many words says:
"Hey, all you out there, this is Jimmy Buffett.
Now I want you to get your ass in a seat.
These guys on stage with me are called Little Feat....
They are a great band and I want you all to see them play".
I went to see Little Feat...
But left with ardent admiration for the headliner that night.
Marty Bender Sobolewski
__________________________________
I met Jimmy Buffett in Nantucket in the early 90's. He was having dinner with Dennis Conner the Americas Cup skipper and for whatever reason common sense left me and I went to their table to say hello. Jimmy politely but firmly told me that I was disturbing their meal.
I was beyond embarrassed and apologized a million times. I went and sat at the bar feeling very foolish. A while later someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was Jimmy. He said that I looked so pathetic that he had to come over to let me know that my transgression was forgiven. He hung out for a little while and took pictures with me and my girlfriend. What an absolute legend of a man. RIP Jimmy.
Kevin Bennett
Sales Director West
Cycling Sports Group
__________________________________
I saw Jimmy five times between 1979 and 2017. Football stadiums, baseball parks, and amphitheaters. Still, my favorite show was his gig at Harrah's in Tahoe during a ski trip. In intimate show with just guitar, piano, and percussion. "How many of you showed up because you thought it said 'Buffet' on the marquee?" he asked the audience. A consummate performer. Alway self deprecating. RIP.
Steven Leventhal
__________________________________
That's a great remembrance. I can't help but think of one of his lesser "classic" albums. You didn't mention it. One Particular Harbor. One stanza from the title track stands out to me:
"Most mysterious calling harbour
So far but yet so near
I can see the day when my hair's full gray
And I finally disappear"
Fair seas, Jimmy. Someday we'll all
raft up at that one particular harbor, So far but so near…
Mike Murphy
__________________________________
So it's like this. Buffet was a go-jillionaire because he could make melodies every bit as good as McCartney. My folks played Buffet, Jennings, and Nelson at all their smoke filled, dance hall, poker parties they held while I might have been trying to sleep, just down the hall, in our 3 bed, 2 bath LA suburb house in the 70s.
I never met the guy. But his art was a fu-king enormous part of my pre-10-s, through my mid 20s.
Long after my own introduction to Buffet at home, a friend's parents bought a sailboat, and berthed it in Marina Del Rey. We were just out of high school, and we would go sail outside of the marina, listening to Buffet, and Everclear (Santa Monica). I haven't a whole lot of sympathy for billionaires dying before 80, as my dad, as well as yours, died at 70. But I will always appreciate Buffet's art, as much I do the art of Van Gough and Monet, et. al., and the impact it had on my life.
So I hope Jimmy rests in peace.
Chris Flesher
__________________________________
Hi Bob,
Since we were in Jackson, MS and since at least one of the jocks at WZZQ-FM knew Jimmy and Fingers Taylor from their time at the U of Southern Mississippi, we played almost every song A White Sport Coat and Pink Crustacean and Living and Dying in 3/4 Time from the day they came out. (Fingers Taylor had additional fame from his work with Larry Raspberry and the Highsteppers out of Memphis; the ill-fated High Steppin' and Fancy Dancin' album was in heavy rotation.)
The Great Filling Station Holdup and Peanut Butter Conspiracy (alleged to have been about an event at a convenience store in Hattiesburg, MS where USM resides) were listener favorites. He Went to Paris and Death of an Unpopular Poet were also requested with regularity. In fact, checking the track listing, I know we played every song on Sport Coat except for Why Don't We Get Drunk. And we would have played that except that was at a time when the FCC might actually do something to the license holder if a station played a song with the famous lyric.
We were already playing Willis Alan Ramsey's Ballad of Spider John but we were happy to get Jimmy's cover version on Living and Dying in 3/4 Time. The Wino and I Know and Pencil Thin Mustache were in regular rotation for a long time.
We played several cuts from each of the next several albums and when he blew up with Margaritaville and Cheeseburger, we played them so much I got tired of 'em. Nothing wrong with the songs but after the first few hundred listens….
I remember your podcast with Jimmy and Mac. That was a good one.
RIP Jimmy Buffett!
Best, Bill Fitzhugh
__________________________________
Thanks for your wonderful tribute to Jimmy Buffett. My very first concert was seeing Jimmy in Snowmass in August of '77 when I was 10 years old. I was there with my Dad and brother and will never forget it. I only knew 'Margaritaville' but that was enough. Jimmy and his band showed me the wonder of seeing music played live by talented people who were having fun. And even at 10 I could see that Jimmy was having a ball! I miss those days and have been seeking the joy we had that night ever since. I keep seeing shows to catch that magic. Besides family, what's better?
Take care and fins up!
Charlie Howard
__________________________________
Jimmy's death has hit me particularly hard, even though I was never a huge fan of Margaritaville and all that jazz. But I knew Jimmy was a good soul and all the stories spilling out now confirm it.
My wife's uncle was a long time restauranteur on Nantucket. He owned the Club Car for 40 years along with the Ropewalk, which is where he met Jimmy Buffett after he crashed his seaplane in the harbor outside the restaurant. Uncle Joey swam out and saved his life. Joe, like Jimmy, did not crave attention for his good deeds. And while I think the story has been told, the details my family knows were quite a bit more harrowing than is generally known. but the greatest part of the story is it was merely the introduction of a lifelong friendship.
Our uncle was a tremendous flyfisherman, and he and Jimmy fished often, traveling, and having adventures between—or while—Jimmy toured. (We have a shoebox full of Joey's backstage passes to all these amazing concerts, his name written in sharpie.) But most of the stories we heard over the years were their fish tales as members of the 'flyfisherman of the apocalypse, a very selec (several famous) bit unassuming group of close friends.
Uncle Joey passed a few years ago, and while I never met Jimmy Buffett, I've heard from people close to him that Jimmy considered Joey his best friend. I know that they are bonefishing together right now up in Heaven.
Rick Pascocello
__________________________________
Hi Bob,
Love your Jimmy piece as it captures the essence of the genius.
I was blessed to hang with Jimmy for many years in Jamaica and in the US.
I met Jim backstage at the Greek theater and gave him a song that I had written for him. I never heard back, but when I saw him about a year later on Jamaica, he remembered and said you're the guy who wrote that song I'm on Jamaica Time!!
He told me that he used to be an altar boy, so he and I together wrote a song called Altered Boy, which is what he had become all those years later!! It's on his Far Side of the World album.
He asked me to help him launch his Radio Margaritaville on Sirius. So I toured with him for a whole year, experiencing the magic every night, and interviewing him on the radio between sets.
I was supposed to be on his plane with him in Jamaica when the police shot it down, but I had to return to the US the day before!!
We could've lost Jimmy and Bono, but heaven was not ready for those two troublemakers yet !!
When I asked Jimmy about it, he said "Listen I used to ship weed, so this is just my karma coming back to get me!" Instead of being bitter, he wrote the song Jamaican Mistaka, and encouraged all of his fans to come to Jamaica to his five Margaritavilles !!
And the plane with all the bullet holes is at Margaritaville at Universal in Orlando.
He was one of the worlds greatest performers, a wicked writer, humanitarian and f*cking amazing human being. All of us in his orbit were truly blessed. We should all be lucky enough in our lifetime to live even one day in the mythical pleasure vortex that he created. He helped us to see the world a little more clearly.
Native Wayne Jobson
Los Angeles
__________________________________
Hey Bob,
I don't think I have ever written in (which is hard to believe as I have been reading your work for decades) but I thought this one was worth it:
I've been reading the many tributes and stories about Jimmy Buffett — from Brandi Carlile to Paul McCartney — and while he was certainly a friend to many musicians, his generosity extended to strangers - like me - as well. My Jimmy Buffett story is all about our mutual love of two different places: New Orleans, with its rich, funky music and Sag Harbor, NY and its deep nautical history and great sailing vibes.
It starts for me at Tulane where I was a student, working as the Promotion Director for the college radio station WTUL. The History degree I received was nothing compared to the music knowledge I gained in New Orleans, including an introduction to the music of the legendary Neville Brothers. Eight years after graduating I was working as a 27-year-old New York-based local radio promotions guy for A&M Records (RIP Mr. Moss.) where our NY based A&R guy Patrick Clifford signed the Neville Brothers and Aaron Neville to the label. Patrick hired Daniel Lanois to produce the "YELLOW MOON" record and they create a CLASSIC album!
I was determined to help make sure the world heard it and I promised Patrick I would not stop until it did!
https://open.spotify.com/album/5mk6XIaqIFbESIcfqh8GEF?si=z1W1jMaqSqi-la8iT7LETA
Our radio promotion team got the record added on a bunch of rock leaning stations in the country, but the biggest one at the time was WNEW in New York City. The music director: Lorraine Caruso recognized it was a great record but encouraged me to create something special to get the station excited about playing the record early (as normally big NY stations waited until records charted in the national top 10 or 20.)
I pitched the idea of an album release party, but what is special about another album release party. I was at a loss but determined to help break this record. That weekend as we starting to set up the album release for the beginning of 1989, I was spending the weekend at my mom's little house in Sag Harbor, NY. I was sitting outside the house on the hood of my car reading the paper and I hear two guys talking on my quiet street.
I look up.. wait..what…it's Jimmy Buffett and the CBS TV 60-Minutes broadcaster Ed Bradley walking past my mom's house!
At first, I was confused as Jimmy "Margaritaville" Buffett was a Key West kind of guy. What's he doing in Sag Harbor where I grew up? I jump off the car, newspaper in hand and introduce myself to them.
Jimmy tells me he just rented our friend Dave's tiny home a few doors down from ours and right next to our local radio station WLNG… "Home of the Golden Oldies."
I tell Ed Bradley that I had seen him jump up for the Neville Brothers final song at the New Orleans Jazz Fest (which I have not missed one of them in the last 42 years) a few months back. He sang the classic R&B song "60 Minute Man" with the band. We talked about his love for the band and I mentioned the upcoming "Yellow Moon" record release and our promotional campaign. I shared my conundrum about getting the needed radio airplay to break the record and spread it out from the world's biggest radio market; New York City.
Without missing a beat, Jimmy says, "Ed you should host the Neville's listening party at the Paley Center and I'll come if I'm not on tour." Ed looks at Jimmy and then back to me and says back "that's a great idea Jimmy, let's do it." I take out a pen from my dad's glove box and write down Ed's assistants' number on the newspaper and off they go exploring my neighborhood and his future residence.
Not believing my luck that I just happened to be sitting outside my house when these legends in music and broadcasting walked by, I called and spoke to Ed's assistant on Monday and she gave me a few dates that Ed and the beautiful Paley Center Theatre were available to host.
Lorraine loved this idea and we created the event a WNEW fan and staff exclusive.
Jimmy unfortunately was on tour that spring, where he spent much of his life, spreading joy but the event came off brilliantly with Ed Bradley as the master of ceremonies! WNEW added the Neville's record which made many radio stations all over America follow suit.
I am SO proud that A&M Records signed a band like The Neville Brothers and even prouder that we got them a gold record for "Yellow Moon, which is still viewed as a classic!
Twenty years later in 2008, I ran into Jimmy backstage in the Newport Folk Fest artist catering area and we sat and talked about our shared love of Sag Harbor, sailing and for the Neville Brothers and New Orleans music culture. Jimmy said he had sailed into Sag Harbor and loved the historic little Whaling village vibe. He, like me could never get it out of his head (I have visited there every summer of my life) and he decided to spend his summers there.
He later bought a much larger home on the water which he passed away in on Friday.
His last in person radio interview was on that local neighborhood radio station WLNG where strangely enough I got my first gig at 8 years old, putting away albums and doing voice overs for a local radio bank commercial.
I was paid in free records and I radio never out of my head. I guess I should not be so surprised that radio was the path that got into the music business a decade plus later.
During Jimmy's last radio interview this summer he debuted his newest song "My Gummy Just Kicked In."
The song title was inspired by a dinner conversation he had at his Sag Harbor home with Paul McCartney and his wife Nancy.
Below is a some of that interview from July 9th.
https://www.facebook.com/WLNGRadio/videos/3553304388262413/
Jimmy, thanks for finding Sag Harbor and walking past my house with the 60 Minute Man that crisp fall Long Island Day in1988 and helping the Neville's "Yellow Moon" record get the proper launch it deserved!
Jonathan McHugh
__________________________________
Wonderful piece on Jimmy Buffett, Bob. The man went through life at full speed, funny as hell. I do not think I knew a more competent or curious person….he could pilot a seaplane, a jet, sail a yacht by the stars, surf, write, sing, point out the stars in the sky, learn new languages in his 60s and 70s. Who does that? Few people could pack action in more in a single day.
He put nothing but joy out there and the last thing he wanted was for people to feel down and sad for him. That's why no one really knew. He left happy and at peace. Jimmy packed in a lot of lifetimes into his 76 years. RIP, pal.
Loved your personal take..
All the best, Tom Freston
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Gary Wright
"My heart is on fire
My soul's like a wheel that's turnin'
My love is alive
My love is alive, yeah"
1
I guess no one twists the radio dial itching to hear their favorite track in the car anymore.
That's where we listened. Home was for albums, car was for the radio. Occasionally there were events wherein you sat at home listening to FM, simulcasts, live concerts, but the car was for discovery, home was for what you already knew.
Los Angeles was the greatest radio market I'd ever experienced. There were five rock stations. Not that they all played the same music. Not that we loved only one kind of music. When people ask me what albums I'd take to a desert isle, I tell them AC/DC's "Back in Black" and Joni Mitchell's "Blue." I'm not exactly sure those are the two, but I want to express the breadth of my desires. That I want headbanging for when I want to squeeze the world out of my mind, and singer-songwriter when I want to feel connected to humanity.
During the summer of '75 I worked at Hollywood Sporting Goods on Hollywood Boulevard. It no longer exists. That entire paradigm is gone. When I was growing up the first place you wanted to visit was the sporting goods store. Each was unique. There were stores with a cornucopia of items in their inventory, they covered every sport, and then there were mini-chains which usually were nowhere near as good. Today there are only giant chains, and they keep on going out of business. Basically you've got Dick's and the Bass Pro Shops, not that I've ever been in either. In Southern California we had Sport Chalet. Originally only in La Canada, their inventory was spectacular, they had every brand. Then it turned into a chain and then it went out of business. Those original individual stores, sans spreadsheets...the owners had their finger on the pulse of the business. Once you brought in the MBAs, once you went public, this touch with the public desire was lost. It's kind of akin to food. Originally the chains were rare, a novelty. You knew you'd get consistency at McDonald's, so if you were in the middle of nowhere, you didn't have to take a risk. Today everybody Yelps, does research, to find the hole in the wall single establishment, where the proprietor creates a culinary delight.
So Hollywood Sporting Goods had bad inventory, unlike Star Sporting Goods, the single shop on Highland I'd worked at the previous fall. The owner would not rehire me because I'd rebuffed his offer of the store. I'd only planned on working until the ski season began, but he thought I was a lifer. And like every industry, sporting goods is a small world. So an old colleague at Star had a girlfriend at Hollywood and I got a job.
It was depressing.
It's different today. There are two tracks, a career and nowhere. People go to college to prepare for a job, we went to prepare for life. Nothing practical was studied, it was about enriching your brain, giving you perspective, and one of the weirdest things to see is this change, like the heart and soul of humanity has been excised.
However, this left us lost when we graduated. We fumbled. Trying to live life and find ourselves, somewhere along the line we'd learn what we wanted to do for the rest of our lives. Yes, we were not job-hoppers like today's youngsters. Then again, we did not think the company had our best interests at heart, like our parents. But we did want something fulfilling. Today if it pays well enough, people will do almost anything. Money is its own justification. And if you have money you can live large anywhere, buy yourself in. And you think you're a prince but...well, people like me are laughing at you, then again there are not many people like me left.
So I was just biding my time until I returned to Utah, to compete on the freestyle circuit. I'd skied with the best, with the world champion in Mammoth in May, I did things that they wouldn't. But I needed a job for the summer. And the business school graduate who ran the stores...like Hank at Star, he too thought I was a lifer, that this was my career. That was weird. You think I'd start my life as a minimum wage employee at some third rate shop? That's the thing about life, you have to have inner strength, inner identity, know what you want, what you deserve, because no one is going to stand up for you, you've got to stand up for yourself. I know, today's kids have been told by their parents that they're great, they get trophies for participation, but my mother constantly told me I was not the one, and if you got a trophy...you still remember it to this day.
I mean the boss, actually a nice guy, gave us sales targets. I mean really? It depended on who walked in the store. And worst case scenario fire me, I didn't really care. Although I did need a job. I remember the day he asked me whether I could shuffle up my wardrobe, wear different pants, I had two pairs of jeans, although different colors, that I alternated, I said no. I haven't always been that brave.
And the clientele... There was this guy Skip, who came in every day carrying a baseball and wearing a light blue jacket akin to the one Fonzie wore on "Happy Days" before he donned his leather further into the series' run. Skip told us about all the movies he was in. This was the kind of character who walked the Boulevard and entered the shop, delusional people. Although one day Bob Haldeman came in for a pair of Tretorns, because he saw an ad in the paper that they were on sale. Of course we didn't have what he was looking for, the sale was basically bogus, but I did sell him a full-priced pair.
But one of the advantages of working at Hollywood Sporting Goods as opposed to Star was it came with parking, right behind the store, there were spots just for us, out of the way, out of trouble, and they were free.
2
They don't have summers like that anymore, where the music is classic and still remembered and played decades later. Let's see, there was "Captain Fantastic," which went straight to number one the first week out, the first time that had happened, but there were no singles and we rarely heard it on the radio. And James Taylor's "Gorilla." They played it on KNX, the soft rock station, but nowhere else. And "Blood on the Tracks," which was for the home. And, of course, the Eagles' "One of These Nights," which dominated the airwaves all summer long.
But there were two other acts, that did get radio airplay, that I loved, that I turned the dial waiting to hear. "What Do You Want From Life" by the Tubes... The album wasn't out yet, but the single was, I'd turn the dial just dying to hear it. A masterpiece that has been lost to the sands of time. "White Punks on Dope" has had a bit of impact on the culture, but you rarely hear that anymore either, and no one talks about either of the cuts. But that zing, that sound, like a circus, with Fee Waybill coming on like a carnival barker, and the recitation of what you might win at the end, "a baby's arm holding an apple"...it was a mini-movie, far superior to the dreck the studios release today.
And then there was "Love Is Alive."
I knew who Gary Wright was. Everybody did. Oh, there was a dividing line, fans and casual listeners. You've got to understand the legion of people who were interested in music. The baby boomers who lived for the show, who still go to the show, who peopled the labels, they just had to get closer, it was their life, it was everything. And they knew everything, like the fact that Gary Wright was in Spooky Tooth, the lone American, and he had worked with George Harrison and put out stiff solo albums.
The albums were on A&M. Before Frampton, before Humble Pie, before Cat Stevens, before A&M's imprimatur made you pay attention.
It's not like we didn't know Spooky Tooth, it's just that we did not know their material. I saw their albums in the bins, but I never bought one, there was never enough incentive. And the band got no airplay on New York radio, which was what I listened to in Connecticut.
And then Gary Wright put out solo albums? This was nearly unfathomable, guy from stiff group gets to put out his own music? I'd see his 1970 album "Extraction," with its pencil drawing cover, and think it was almost amateurish, like they didn't have the money for color. As for the follow-up, 1971's "Footprint"... It's like it almost didn't come out, that one many shops didn't even stock.
And then Gary Wright disappeared.
Not that he'd ever really arrived in America to begin with.
Gary Wright was gone, for years, another casualty of the initial album rock era. Who cared, good riddance, it's not like anybody was waiting for new material. But years later he had an album on Warner Brothers, the best in the business? And he played all the instruments himself? They said it was all keyboards, synths, that Wright had done it alone. This was the publicity hook, although the details said otherwise. So we knew the album was coming. However, the hype barely preceded the record, it was on the radio nearly immediately, we heard "Love Is Alive."
3
"Dream Weaver" is the classic, it sustains primarily because of its inclusion in "Wayne's World." And I'm not saying we never heard it on the radio in the seventies, but first it was "Love Is Alive."
How to describe that intro. Ethereal, yet with a connection to earth, with the prominent bass and drums. There was a twinkly synth above it all, the mood was set for adventure. But this was not Pink Floyd, this was traditional verse chorus rock, but listening for the first time you did not know, and thereafter you looked forward to Gary...
"Well I think it's time to get ready
To realize just what I have found"
What an intro, akin to Sly's "Dance to the Music," Gary was setting us up.
But it was the chorus that knocked us out, It went down instead of up, it was nearly subtle, but this minor note journey made you feel all soft inside, and then back to the in-your-face major trip.
"There's something inside that's making me crazy
I'll try to keep it together"
There was no social media. We'd get a feeling, a crush, and it would burn us up. And if there was actual connection our lives were made, that was more important, more than money.
"There's a mirror moving inside my mind.
Reflecting the love that you shine on me
Hold on now to that feeling
Let it flow, let it grow, yeah"
The final line was uttered in a guttural fashion absent from what had become before. Gary felt it, which made us feel it, he was nearly losing control, and that's what we depended upon from music, to take us to the edge, to illustrate that life was worth living.
So I'd drive the half hour from Brentwood to Hollywood every day, a journey that takes longer now, with the traffic. Awake earlier than I wanted to be, just twisting the dial of my Blaupunkt, sans push-buttons, trying to find "What Do You Want From Life" and "Love Is Alive."
And during my lunch break I'd sit in my car behind Hollywood Sporting Goods listening to the radio, I distinctly remember hearing "Love Is Alive" and being elated.
4
I had to buy the album. I needed to hear "Love Is Alive" on demand, I knew it by heart, I loved it.
That intro to "Can't Find the Judge."
The nearly soft rock "Made to Love You."
When I listen to "Let It Out" right now it brings me right back to that summer of '75, I can see it clearly, in technicolor, the music brings back the images, paints the colors, gives me a feeling that I thought I'd lost, but it turns out I haven't.
I could continue to testify, I'm stunned how I know the "Dream Weaver" album by heart not having listened to the whole thing in decades. But I listened to it just that much back then. The album had an optimism, a sunniness, from an era when we thought it would all work out.
But it didn't work out for Gary Wright. There were numerous TV appearances, with a keyboard around his neck, a novelty at the time. He capitalized on his success, he wrung out every note. And then it was done. Two years later Gary put out another album, but the world had changed, synthesizer driven tracks were no longer a novelty, rock was becoming corporate, he never had another hit.
But for that one moment in time, that year of '75, Gary Wright was as big as anybody on the radio, anybody in rock.
5
I got word back in '98 that some big star was going to appear at a gig at a nothing club in Santa Monica. Might have been Jackson Browne, I don't remember. But the audience was populated with insiders, musicians, because the hoi polloi would never come out on this night to this club, there'd be no reason, the venue was far from packed.
And that star did perform. But what got me was...
Gary Wright was there, someone pointed him out. My heart jumped. Living in L.A. long enough you know not to bother someone, to go up and say you're a fan. But...
Then Gary got on stage and performed "Love Is Alive." I'd like to tell you it was as energetic and perfect as the recording, but it was not. Yet this was a pickup band, for this one evening, there had not been serious rehearsal, this was not about getting it right as much as getting out and letting it out and...
The essence was still there. I was connecting my brain to twenty years before. It was still there. Because Gary was still playing the same notes on the synth. It was his voice singing the lyrics. It was "Love Is Alive," it was Gary Wright!
6
Gary emailed me a while back, told me he was writing a memoir. I remember the connection, that's what I live for, more than a big house or a fancy car. This guy made that record that impacted my life, he's a part of it, whether he knows it or not.
And there was a ton of bread in music in the seventies. But it was anathema to sell out. Bands were not brands. It was only about the music. No one danced. They moved to the music, but there was no choreography. You went to the gig to hear your favorites, to get closer to the sound, you were the only person in the audience, even though there might have been tens of thousands.
7
So I was doing my final go-round on my phone last night before turning it off and plugging it in, before reading, before trying to relax. And on what used to be known as Twitter, my friend Jeff posted that Gary Wright had died.
It was a dagger to my heart.
He was eighty. I know I've said this before, but it drives me crazy. Everybody I know thinks they're going to live forever, it's going to be quite a wake-up call when they're gone.
And these musicians are a bit older than me, but next it's going to be my friends, the people I know.
And the rock stars of yore are dying on a regular basis now. Even more than one a week sometimes. A whole generation passing.
But that generation lives on in our minds. It just wasn't music, it was life. Also makes me crazy when people younger than baby boomers say it's the same as it ever was, that every generation has its own popular music, and it's just as good.
It's not. That's patently untrue. Music was the '27 Yankees. The Sistine Chapel. Sometimes the '69 Jets, and sometimes the Mets. Music was peaks, and sometimes valleys, but it was everything, it rode shotgun, it drove the culture, and Gary Wright was right there, part of it, and I'll never forget.
Then again it won't be long before I'm forgotten. Everything important to me is already fading. But not for me. It'll live until I die.
My soul's like a wheel that's turnin'
My love is alive
My love is alive, yeah"
1
I guess no one twists the radio dial itching to hear their favorite track in the car anymore.
That's where we listened. Home was for albums, car was for the radio. Occasionally there were events wherein you sat at home listening to FM, simulcasts, live concerts, but the car was for discovery, home was for what you already knew.
Los Angeles was the greatest radio market I'd ever experienced. There were five rock stations. Not that they all played the same music. Not that we loved only one kind of music. When people ask me what albums I'd take to a desert isle, I tell them AC/DC's "Back in Black" and Joni Mitchell's "Blue." I'm not exactly sure those are the two, but I want to express the breadth of my desires. That I want headbanging for when I want to squeeze the world out of my mind, and singer-songwriter when I want to feel connected to humanity.
During the summer of '75 I worked at Hollywood Sporting Goods on Hollywood Boulevard. It no longer exists. That entire paradigm is gone. When I was growing up the first place you wanted to visit was the sporting goods store. Each was unique. There were stores with a cornucopia of items in their inventory, they covered every sport, and then there were mini-chains which usually were nowhere near as good. Today there are only giant chains, and they keep on going out of business. Basically you've got Dick's and the Bass Pro Shops, not that I've ever been in either. In Southern California we had Sport Chalet. Originally only in La Canada, their inventory was spectacular, they had every brand. Then it turned into a chain and then it went out of business. Those original individual stores, sans spreadsheets...the owners had their finger on the pulse of the business. Once you brought in the MBAs, once you went public, this touch with the public desire was lost. It's kind of akin to food. Originally the chains were rare, a novelty. You knew you'd get consistency at McDonald's, so if you were in the middle of nowhere, you didn't have to take a risk. Today everybody Yelps, does research, to find the hole in the wall single establishment, where the proprietor creates a culinary delight.
So Hollywood Sporting Goods had bad inventory, unlike Star Sporting Goods, the single shop on Highland I'd worked at the previous fall. The owner would not rehire me because I'd rebuffed his offer of the store. I'd only planned on working until the ski season began, but he thought I was a lifer. And like every industry, sporting goods is a small world. So an old colleague at Star had a girlfriend at Hollywood and I got a job.
It was depressing.
It's different today. There are two tracks, a career and nowhere. People go to college to prepare for a job, we went to prepare for life. Nothing practical was studied, it was about enriching your brain, giving you perspective, and one of the weirdest things to see is this change, like the heart and soul of humanity has been excised.
However, this left us lost when we graduated. We fumbled. Trying to live life and find ourselves, somewhere along the line we'd learn what we wanted to do for the rest of our lives. Yes, we were not job-hoppers like today's youngsters. Then again, we did not think the company had our best interests at heart, like our parents. But we did want something fulfilling. Today if it pays well enough, people will do almost anything. Money is its own justification. And if you have money you can live large anywhere, buy yourself in. And you think you're a prince but...well, people like me are laughing at you, then again there are not many people like me left.
So I was just biding my time until I returned to Utah, to compete on the freestyle circuit. I'd skied with the best, with the world champion in Mammoth in May, I did things that they wouldn't. But I needed a job for the summer. And the business school graduate who ran the stores...like Hank at Star, he too thought I was a lifer, that this was my career. That was weird. You think I'd start my life as a minimum wage employee at some third rate shop? That's the thing about life, you have to have inner strength, inner identity, know what you want, what you deserve, because no one is going to stand up for you, you've got to stand up for yourself. I know, today's kids have been told by their parents that they're great, they get trophies for participation, but my mother constantly told me I was not the one, and if you got a trophy...you still remember it to this day.
I mean the boss, actually a nice guy, gave us sales targets. I mean really? It depended on who walked in the store. And worst case scenario fire me, I didn't really care. Although I did need a job. I remember the day he asked me whether I could shuffle up my wardrobe, wear different pants, I had two pairs of jeans, although different colors, that I alternated, I said no. I haven't always been that brave.
And the clientele... There was this guy Skip, who came in every day carrying a baseball and wearing a light blue jacket akin to the one Fonzie wore on "Happy Days" before he donned his leather further into the series' run. Skip told us about all the movies he was in. This was the kind of character who walked the Boulevard and entered the shop, delusional people. Although one day Bob Haldeman came in for a pair of Tretorns, because he saw an ad in the paper that they were on sale. Of course we didn't have what he was looking for, the sale was basically bogus, but I did sell him a full-priced pair.
But one of the advantages of working at Hollywood Sporting Goods as opposed to Star was it came with parking, right behind the store, there were spots just for us, out of the way, out of trouble, and they were free.
2
They don't have summers like that anymore, where the music is classic and still remembered and played decades later. Let's see, there was "Captain Fantastic," which went straight to number one the first week out, the first time that had happened, but there were no singles and we rarely heard it on the radio. And James Taylor's "Gorilla." They played it on KNX, the soft rock station, but nowhere else. And "Blood on the Tracks," which was for the home. And, of course, the Eagles' "One of These Nights," which dominated the airwaves all summer long.
But there were two other acts, that did get radio airplay, that I loved, that I turned the dial waiting to hear. "What Do You Want From Life" by the Tubes... The album wasn't out yet, but the single was, I'd turn the dial just dying to hear it. A masterpiece that has been lost to the sands of time. "White Punks on Dope" has had a bit of impact on the culture, but you rarely hear that anymore either, and no one talks about either of the cuts. But that zing, that sound, like a circus, with Fee Waybill coming on like a carnival barker, and the recitation of what you might win at the end, "a baby's arm holding an apple"...it was a mini-movie, far superior to the dreck the studios release today.
And then there was "Love Is Alive."
I knew who Gary Wright was. Everybody did. Oh, there was a dividing line, fans and casual listeners. You've got to understand the legion of people who were interested in music. The baby boomers who lived for the show, who still go to the show, who peopled the labels, they just had to get closer, it was their life, it was everything. And they knew everything, like the fact that Gary Wright was in Spooky Tooth, the lone American, and he had worked with George Harrison and put out stiff solo albums.
The albums were on A&M. Before Frampton, before Humble Pie, before Cat Stevens, before A&M's imprimatur made you pay attention.
It's not like we didn't know Spooky Tooth, it's just that we did not know their material. I saw their albums in the bins, but I never bought one, there was never enough incentive. And the band got no airplay on New York radio, which was what I listened to in Connecticut.
And then Gary Wright put out solo albums? This was nearly unfathomable, guy from stiff group gets to put out his own music? I'd see his 1970 album "Extraction," with its pencil drawing cover, and think it was almost amateurish, like they didn't have the money for color. As for the follow-up, 1971's "Footprint"... It's like it almost didn't come out, that one many shops didn't even stock.
And then Gary Wright disappeared.
Not that he'd ever really arrived in America to begin with.
Gary Wright was gone, for years, another casualty of the initial album rock era. Who cared, good riddance, it's not like anybody was waiting for new material. But years later he had an album on Warner Brothers, the best in the business? And he played all the instruments himself? They said it was all keyboards, synths, that Wright had done it alone. This was the publicity hook, although the details said otherwise. So we knew the album was coming. However, the hype barely preceded the record, it was on the radio nearly immediately, we heard "Love Is Alive."
3
"Dream Weaver" is the classic, it sustains primarily because of its inclusion in "Wayne's World." And I'm not saying we never heard it on the radio in the seventies, but first it was "Love Is Alive."
How to describe that intro. Ethereal, yet with a connection to earth, with the prominent bass and drums. There was a twinkly synth above it all, the mood was set for adventure. But this was not Pink Floyd, this was traditional verse chorus rock, but listening for the first time you did not know, and thereafter you looked forward to Gary...
"Well I think it's time to get ready
To realize just what I have found"
What an intro, akin to Sly's "Dance to the Music," Gary was setting us up.
But it was the chorus that knocked us out, It went down instead of up, it was nearly subtle, but this minor note journey made you feel all soft inside, and then back to the in-your-face major trip.
"There's something inside that's making me crazy
I'll try to keep it together"
There was no social media. We'd get a feeling, a crush, and it would burn us up. And if there was actual connection our lives were made, that was more important, more than money.
"There's a mirror moving inside my mind.
Reflecting the love that you shine on me
Hold on now to that feeling
Let it flow, let it grow, yeah"
The final line was uttered in a guttural fashion absent from what had become before. Gary felt it, which made us feel it, he was nearly losing control, and that's what we depended upon from music, to take us to the edge, to illustrate that life was worth living.
So I'd drive the half hour from Brentwood to Hollywood every day, a journey that takes longer now, with the traffic. Awake earlier than I wanted to be, just twisting the dial of my Blaupunkt, sans push-buttons, trying to find "What Do You Want From Life" and "Love Is Alive."
And during my lunch break I'd sit in my car behind Hollywood Sporting Goods listening to the radio, I distinctly remember hearing "Love Is Alive" and being elated.
4
I had to buy the album. I needed to hear "Love Is Alive" on demand, I knew it by heart, I loved it.
That intro to "Can't Find the Judge."
The nearly soft rock "Made to Love You."
When I listen to "Let It Out" right now it brings me right back to that summer of '75, I can see it clearly, in technicolor, the music brings back the images, paints the colors, gives me a feeling that I thought I'd lost, but it turns out I haven't.
I could continue to testify, I'm stunned how I know the "Dream Weaver" album by heart not having listened to the whole thing in decades. But I listened to it just that much back then. The album had an optimism, a sunniness, from an era when we thought it would all work out.
But it didn't work out for Gary Wright. There were numerous TV appearances, with a keyboard around his neck, a novelty at the time. He capitalized on his success, he wrung out every note. And then it was done. Two years later Gary put out another album, but the world had changed, synthesizer driven tracks were no longer a novelty, rock was becoming corporate, he never had another hit.
But for that one moment in time, that year of '75, Gary Wright was as big as anybody on the radio, anybody in rock.
5
I got word back in '98 that some big star was going to appear at a gig at a nothing club in Santa Monica. Might have been Jackson Browne, I don't remember. But the audience was populated with insiders, musicians, because the hoi polloi would never come out on this night to this club, there'd be no reason, the venue was far from packed.
And that star did perform. But what got me was...
Gary Wright was there, someone pointed him out. My heart jumped. Living in L.A. long enough you know not to bother someone, to go up and say you're a fan. But...
Then Gary got on stage and performed "Love Is Alive." I'd like to tell you it was as energetic and perfect as the recording, but it was not. Yet this was a pickup band, for this one evening, there had not been serious rehearsal, this was not about getting it right as much as getting out and letting it out and...
The essence was still there. I was connecting my brain to twenty years before. It was still there. Because Gary was still playing the same notes on the synth. It was his voice singing the lyrics. It was "Love Is Alive," it was Gary Wright!
6
Gary emailed me a while back, told me he was writing a memoir. I remember the connection, that's what I live for, more than a big house or a fancy car. This guy made that record that impacted my life, he's a part of it, whether he knows it or not.
And there was a ton of bread in music in the seventies. But it was anathema to sell out. Bands were not brands. It was only about the music. No one danced. They moved to the music, but there was no choreography. You went to the gig to hear your favorites, to get closer to the sound, you were the only person in the audience, even though there might have been tens of thousands.
7
So I was doing my final go-round on my phone last night before turning it off and plugging it in, before reading, before trying to relax. And on what used to be known as Twitter, my friend Jeff posted that Gary Wright had died.
It was a dagger to my heart.
He was eighty. I know I've said this before, but it drives me crazy. Everybody I know thinks they're going to live forever, it's going to be quite a wake-up call when they're gone.
And these musicians are a bit older than me, but next it's going to be my friends, the people I know.
And the rock stars of yore are dying on a regular basis now. Even more than one a week sometimes. A whole generation passing.
But that generation lives on in our minds. It just wasn't music, it was life. Also makes me crazy when people younger than baby boomers say it's the same as it ever was, that every generation has its own popular music, and it's just as good.
It's not. That's patently untrue. Music was the '27 Yankees. The Sistine Chapel. Sometimes the '69 Jets, and sometimes the Mets. Music was peaks, and sometimes valleys, but it was everything, it rode shotgun, it drove the culture, and Gary Wright was right there, part of it, and I'll never forget.
Then again it won't be long before I'm forgotten. Everything important to me is already fading. But not for me. It'll live until I die.
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